As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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We're planning to head up to Vancouver, BC for my Spring Break, the last week of March.
We're going budget again, of course, this time looking at parking a Uhaul van outside a friend's house in Vancouver. We'll have access to their house but feel like we have our own space and aren't imposing. We did this in Brooklyn last summer and it worked great, will be even better with more humane temperatures.
Cast:
Kim-Me. Into gardens, themed environments (duh), Oceana, history of domestic life, walking/hiking
Fred-DH Into nature, bird watching, life-hacking to save $, coffee
August-DS 6.5 Into lego, candy, Power Rangers
We'll be visiting some old performers from the European busking circuit who have moved to Canada. These folk are dear, crazy, fun friends. We don't keep in touch much, but we love each other tons.
That's about all I know at this time, but I'm off to do some research now.
We went this past summer, it is an expensive city, especially if you go up to Jasper and do any of the gondola rides. We spent some time at Granville its a market with all sorts of artisan shops, really wished we had more time in this area, Stanley Park is very nice and the aquarium was interesting. You can go to Canada Place its where they had the Olympic Flame, its on the water and you can watch the cruise ships come in and small float planes take off.
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We are on a very tight budget, as we are saving for Disney in Dec and SE Asia possibly in Summer 2016, if we can save enough. So, the above will probably stretch us to the limit. We're planning on relying on our friends up there to tell us how the poor folks have fun.
Looking forward to having different money to contend with. It doesn't feel too exotic but at least it really is another country!
Well our money is interesting, our $1 and $2 are coins called loonies and twonies, and the rest of our money is various colours, makes it easier to tell what it is.
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Hotel Chez Uhaul. We parked our Uhaul Cargo Van in a residential neighborhood, across the street from a construction site. Since it's Canada, they left the port-a-potty unlocked.
We ate a ton of really good Vietnamese and Chinese food. Affordable and delicious!
We had a nice visit to the VanDussen Botanical Garden.
We went with our local friends to a very nice community swimming pool and rec center.
For our last night, we had a big hurrah. This was just about a perfect day for me. First, we got a real hotel room. It was in North Vancouver, so pretty far from the action, but that's where things were cheap.
We then spent 3 hrs in here:
Which was great!!! I was able to live my dream, of having a hot drink inside a tropical greenhouse. So often, you can't take food or drink inside these, so I don't get to fully embody the fantasy of relaxing in paradise. This one not only allowed, but sold coffee and tea. I was abstaining from coffee, so I had a solid, tasty tea. This place isn't that big, but with DH fully engrossed in identifying the over 50 species of tropical birds that are kept in this greenhouse, it was easy to spend all that time here. DS found friends (who surprisingly stayed over an hour) and it was awesome!
After that, we went back to the hotel to drop off our car, because the next plan was to get our drink on at:
We were successful, and arrived at the above establishment at about 8pm. All the pics I have are from the web, I don't have my own copies loaded, but this place was pretty darn good.
Here's a link to my first and only tripadvisor review.
For our 2nd drink, we split the volcano bowl. Good choice!
We closed the place down! Not hard to do when last call is at 11:30. Our son had fallen asleep at about 9:30, he slept like a baby on the booth seat until it was time to wander out into the night.
The next day we headed home, satisfied that we had lived it up in Canada!
__________________
Themed environment junkie
Last edited by KimmyAnn1147; 05-15-2015 at 09:25 AM..
Glad to hear you had a good trip. We'll be in Vancouver in about 46 days. The tiki bar looks cool! We are looking forward to visiting Chinatown.
Thanks for the update!
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We'll have access to their house but feel like we have our own space and aren't imposing. We did this in Brooklyn last summer and it worked great, will be even better with more humane temperatures. 
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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